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Name/Age: Isobel
Location: Jackson Heights, New York
Family: Isobel, Mom Cara, Dad and Eco the dog
Room Size: 72 square feet
Division: Baby
Tip for Living Small with Kids: I keep reminding myself that babies are born all over the world with much less. So we keep our things basic yet aesthetically pleasing, and mentally prepare ourselves to accept whatever may happen to our lovely walnut plywood lounge chair that sits on our pretty white shag rug. Because it's not the end of the world if something should happen.
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What was one of the biggest challenges you faced in putting together this room? The biggest challenge was carving a nursery out of our bedroom by installing Ikea closets as a partition and turning the linen closet door into the nursery entry. The backside of the closets are covered in wool felt insulation panels for noise reduction which we made ourselves as well. We covered the wood floors with Flor tiles to muffle the sounds of late night footsteps to appease our sensitive downstairs neighbor. Accents were limited to green and blue and we chose white for anything that may require repeated laundering for easy spit-up detection. We chose Ikea for basics like the storage & crib, found great colorful fabric bins at Target, decorated with additional online sales finds and spent a little more for the rocker because not only did it fit through the narrow door of the small space, but we appreciate the design. The artwork is a copy of Mom's childhood drawings and sand dollars are hung with ribbon that we collected during Isobel's babymoon.
Give Isobel's family a THUMBS UP if you think this room belongs in the finals!
Thumbs Up Voting is only activated for 48 Hours — so don't delay!
Beautiful! Can you tell us more about how you made the panels?
view Heather C's profile
Will be a lovely, tranquil place to raise my Granddaughter.
view maryellen49's profile
Love the tranquil color. What did you use? Also very curious as to how you divided the rooms. Did you have to create a separate entrance for your bedroom to accomplish this room split? We're debating between a curtained separation and a similar IKEA separation when the time comes...
view lortiz's profile
The felt panels are such a great idea. You'll be very thankful later for this choice! The rocking chair is just so cute. Isobel is a beautiful name!
view baileyb's profile
Love the simplicity! Love the chair!
view anabab's profile
Like the felt!
view jponitz's profile
Great room. Nice and calm. Where did you get the bumper pad? It's so cozy.
view jess b's profile
Thoughtful, beautiful room -- but my favorite part is still the doggie face looking in from the hallway.
:)
view mere1975's profile
Would love to hear more about the felt panels. It's lovely.
view Auburn's profile
I am very amazed by the room's beauty - I love it.
Interesting rocking chair by the way.
view BAJ01's profile
pared down beautifully and very soothing color choices...
view icicle's profile
Nice job guys...Loved the colors and the ambience created...especially the rocking chair.
view wolverine_99's profile
Izzi is just going to love her new room!
view TimOrlando1's profile
i love how you mixed up the colors with the bins! what a lovely palette!
view shutterbean's profile
Lovely! Must know paint color!!!! Such a beautiful shade of blue.
view farleece's profile
Are the white storage cabinets from IKEA? And the bins? You mentioned Target, but the bins fit so perfectly in the cabinet that I was wondering if both were from IKEA.
Everything looks great.
view leslie1090's profile
Looks good, mate! So, was part or all of this room a closet off your room before?
view 2btrent's profile
I absolutely love it. Can you tell me where you got the nice white bedding? I've been looking for some that is still nice and reasonably priced and I think you've found it!
view Landrylee's profile
love the green and blue!
view civeyslee's profile
Great color—so soothing. (And yay for JHeights!)
view bakek's profile
I would love to know the paint color too!
view Elle78's profile
Love this room! I would like to know the paint color and where you got these bins! Thank you!
view wednesdayaddams's profile
simply the best. very clever
view ami317's profile
architectural creation
view ami317's profile
well done!
view stephsteph's profile
I love the room! And it looks high end rather than an Ikea and Target budget.
I also love the rocker (wanted smaller version for my son), but for us it wouldn't work. I fall asleep almost nightly with my little one in our 'rocker' (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90105903 Ikea Poang in leather with the top piece pulled off so I can lean my head back.)
view CrewJulie's profile
Thanks for all the kind words everyone. This should answer some of the questions you all have had.
The rocker was found at White Furniture in Williamsburg. A great, and affordable find.
The doors are stained a custom color of translucent gray; some of the grain shows through, though this hardly shows in the photos. The doors used to be covered in thick layers of white paint and were paintstakingly removed and refinished by a fabulous woodworker named Joe Salem.
I believe the wall color is Benjamin Moore Newburyport Blue (HC-155), but I'm not positive.
The floor is by FLOR.
The storage unit is from IKEA; two EXPEDIT units fastened together; the perfect size and height to double as a changing table.
The colorful boxes are from Target. It was a very happy coincidence that they fit inside the EXPEDIT unit perfectly. They house baby clothing and supplies.
The rooms are dividing using PAX wardrobes. Nothing is bolted into the ground, nor the ceiling. Isobel's room is defined by the backside of the wardrobes that face the Master Bedroom area. We mounted white door panels on the crib wall and the wrapped insulation (purchased at any Home Depot, mounted with velcro) to the other wall.
The stool is the KLIPPAN from IKEA, with a white shag/fur cover.
The monkey is from blabla kids (www.blablakids.com). The quilt is a handmade Afghan gifted by a wonderful woman in Riyadh. The camel is from Dubai. On the window sill, is ABC3D, pop-up alphabet book by graphic designer Marion Bataille.
The bumper pad is from Pottery Barn Kids.
The dog is from Boston.
view spanishfish's profile
very cool~
view minwsuh's profile
LOL the dog is from Boston! anyway cute boston terrier :D
view cookiemonsta's profile
It proved again that both of you are exceptionally talented Architects.
We are very much enjoying the house you designed for us and we apprecite your sense of beauty and simpliciy and functionality.
Bravo!
Drs. Young and Ami from Alabama
view ami317's profile
My husband and I are planning to do a similar separation in our home office when the time comes, so I enjoyed seeing what you did! You're right, the Expedit works perfectly for both storage and a changing table, I will definitely have to remember that. Thanks for the inspiration!
view LauraBelle's profile
So amazing. 72 sqft doesn't seem possible - I love how it still feels cozy and perfect for a baby but isn't traditional "pottery barn" like the rest. Well Done!
view jonacarlson's profile
It's beautiful and very wisely, functionally, and artistically orgarnized cute space that any baby or even I wish to sleep, read, think and have a quiet time. Isobela would be proud of her Mom and Dad. I love the color. Seongsook Eemo
view schicago's profile
It's amazing that you could create a very practical liveable art piece in such a small space.
view schicago's profile
Lovely and serene. But please get rid of the bumper. http://pediatrics.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1114/1
view ka11i's profile